Leonardo DiCaprio

 Hello, I'm Callum Robertson and this is Entertainment. Dominating the moviescene at the moment is the upcoming Oscars. In the programme today wefeature one of the Oscar nominees, Leonardo DiCaprio who has beennominated for his role in the film Blood Diamond.
　　In the programme we'll hear part of an interview with Leonardo DiCaprio. Wehear him describing how he prepared for the role and also we take a close lookat the language he uses. But first a little bit about the background to the film'Blood Diamond.'
　　In a number of civil wars in Africa the sale of diamonds has been used to payfor the conflict. These diamonds are known as Conflict diamonds, wardiamonds or blood diamonds and this is where the film gets its name.
　　The film is about the attempts of the character played by DiCaprio, to find aparticular diamond during the civil war in Sierra Leone in the 1990s.
　　 DiCaprio's character is not a hero or a good guy; he's involved in tradingconflict diamonds, he's a mercenary, or a soldier for hire, also known as asoldier of fortune. His character comes from a country which is now known asZimbabwe and he has a very distinct accent. It was not only the accent thatDiCaprio had to learn about, but also the attitude, how did he learn about thekind of person his character was and firstly, how did he feel about the accent?
　　Leonardo DiCaprioIt was definitely the most difficult that I've ever had to take on, extremely foreign to me, notonly the accent but you know, the slang, the attitude of some of these South Africanmercenaries in particular, soldiers of fortune. I got to meet some of these real guys and got togo to Africa and hear first hand accounts of what they've seen in battle and politically theirattitudes about Africa. That's why it was fundamentally important for me to go to Africa asearly as I possibly could, because I couldn't have done that research at home just by reading orby, you know, surfing the net, you know, you have to kind of immerse yourself in thatenvironment.
　　Callum:  The accent he said was the most difficult that he's ever had to do and helearned about his character by going to Africa and meeting mercenaries.
　　Now let's listen again to Leonardo DiCaprio talking about his research for hisrole in Blood Diamond. This time I'll break it down and look in more details atsome of the language he uses.
　　Leonardo DiCaprioIt was definitely the most difficult that I've ever had to take on,Callum:  The accent was difficult to take on, to take on, something that you take on is aresponsibility or job you accept.
　　Leonardo DiCaprioExtremely foreign to meCallum:  If something is 'foreign' to you it means that it is not something that you arefamiliar with, it's very different from the things that you experience ineveryday life. Apart from the accent, what else did DiCaprio find foreign?
　　Leonardo DiCaprionot only the accent but you know, the slang, the attitude of some of these South Africanmercenaries in particular, soldiers of fortune.